Emmy Nominations: Deadline’s Comedy Series Predictions

TV comedy is no laughing matter and even less so when it comes to tomorrow’s Emmy nominations announcement. Will Modern Family get a serious step closer to making history? A nomination in the Outstanding Comedy Series category for the show from creators Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd would put it within striking distance of an unprecedented sixth win. With that in mind, check out our video above to see who we think will be among the nominees on Thursday morning.

One thing that really could shake the race up in this category this year is strong freshmen contenders from the streaming services. Amazon’sTransparent has the triple threat of critical acclaim, a Golden Globe win and being right in the thick of a cultural shift. Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has its own trio of advantages with Tina Fey as co-creator, Jon Hamm as a guest star and Ellie Kemper in the title role of an ex-doomsday cult member. Then there’s Netflix’sGrace And Frankie from Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman and starring voter faves Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. Having been declared ineligible in the category, the absence of Orange Is The New Black might open up a noms spot.

Then there’s HBO’s previously triple-nominatedVeep, which also has seen Julia Louis-Dreyfus win Best Actress in the category in three years in a row, and sophomore Silicon Valley. That other premium cabler Showtime could see Episodes get its first Outstanding Comedy Series nom – even though the show created by David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik has had noms for lead Matt LeBlanc, writing and directing in the past. But don’t count out the broadcast networks: The Big Bang Theory, Mom and Black-ish all have nomination possibilities and perhaps more.

The Emmy nominations are going to be read out on July 16 at 8:30 AM PT. The ceremony is on September 20 and will be broadcast on Fox. What do you think of our nomination picks? Who did we leave out? Who should we have left off the list?